Monday, 10 March 2014

Worries for rural services voiced

The Rural Services Network (RSN),
in its fourth annual State of Rural Public Services report, has highlighted the uncertainty facing
public transport, post offices and health services in rural England.

Over 200 organisations are members
of the RSN, including local authorities, public bodies, charities and voluntary
groups, and it provides support to the all-party Parliamentary Group on rural
services.

The group’s latest report drew on a
range of research and statistics, an online survey with councils, interviews
with specific sub-groups and a major conference. With ‘rural’ defined ‘as any
settlement of less than 10,000 people’ then 18 per cent of the population in
England live in a rural setting.

The RSN backed the government’s new
guidelines requiring all public sector departments to consider the rural impact
of their policies. Using a formula based on per head of population it advocates
for a ‘bigger, fairer share’ of government funding.

Rural communities certainly could
do with additional support, and the rural communities debate in Parliament on 9
January 2014 heard many MPs express concerns that cost of living increases are
seriously hurting their constituents.

The RSN examination of public
transport in rural areas makes for grim reading. The department for transport
stated in 2012 a desire to attract more people onto buses, and there have been
some noted improvements in connecting buses with rail transport. Community
transport schemes in which volunteers play a prominent role have also
increased.

Car sharing schemes have
multiplied. But the combined impact of all the above has been massively
underscored by huge public sector cuts, including a 20% cut to the bus service
operator grant. Consequently, the proportion of rural households with an
accessible regular bus service has fallen dramatically as demonstrated on the
Campaign for Better Transport’s interactive website map.

Unlike public transport, the
decline in Post Office numbers has been slowed in recent years. Under Labour
much of the network was closed with 840 closures alone between 2008 and 2009.
The RSN is largely supportive of plans to create 2,000 Post Office Locals,
where the post office service is integrated into another nearby retail outlet.
The organisation is though concerned that these changes may lead to longer
waits and less privacy.

Health issues are another worry. In
an urban environment, 100 per cent of residents live within 4kms of a GP
surgery. But, in a rural area, the figure drops to 65 per cent. Anyone without
a car faces difficulties in accessing a GP or hospital, especially when public
transport is being cut.

Rural locations receive
significantly less per head of population towards health care. The RSN believe
the imbalance should be reduced, especially as rural areas have more elderly
people, a trend set to increase. The RSN is also concerned that the phasing out
by 2021 of the minimum practice income guarantee, under which small GP
surgeries are subsidised, will hit rural practices hard.